The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-10-26
MINING IN CHINA.

American Miners TO Reopen and De
veiop Inexhaustibie q old ana silver
Mines In the Flowery Kingdom
a Once Fiouishing Industry Killed
by superstition.
A San Francisco letter to The New
York Herald says: While the people
are wondering what to make OF the
new Arabian Nights Entertainment by
Count Won Mitklewicz, u little expcdi-
ton is departing from this port which
may effect mere for the Amerlcaniza-
ton of China than the day dreams OF
all the counts that have ever been
counted. Among the passengers who
sailed on the 2lst ult. in the City of
reking for Yokohama were Mr.. A. M.
Ellsworth, mining man OF experiences
Arthur +. Roberts, assayer; Frank j.
Mel, machinist; Mark j. Lidstone.
mllman; Mel Diven, mining foreman,
and Charles Taylor. prospector All
these are in the service of the govern
ment of China. engaged under special
contract to reopen and work the gold
and silver mines in the province OF
Shan Tung.
To understand the new departure
it is necessary to go back long way.
Gold aud silver mining was at one
time II llourishing industry in China.
There is reason 10 believe that the Chi
nese used gold coins al a period an
terror to the date OF those Greek and
Parlhian specimens which form the de-
light of numismatists. They are said
to have been cubes without inscr ptions.
However this may be, the art OF min
ing died out This was due to several
causes In mining, as in other me-
chanical pursuits, the Chinese reached
certain distance and no further.
They learned how to mine ore and
to separate mineral from rock. but
they never discovered how to pump
water out or fresh air into underground
workings. Hence, in all their mines.
there came time when foul gases and
water drove out the miners.
Still more fatal to the mining industry
was the superstition of the Feng Shin.
The Feng Shin were underground
demons who were quiet and we'll
haved enough so long us they were UNI
molcsted in their subterranean abode,
but became troublesome and NAL gnant
if their rest were disturbed. 1t was
discovered that epidemics and famines
followed the workings of certain mines,
and it was demonstrated without diff
Guilty that the visitation were due TO the
justly irrtated Feng Shin
The controversy lasted some years.
as such things do in China But it
ended in the issue of an imperial re-
script absolutely prohibiting the pro-
secution of drift mining under penalty
of death. This edict is supposed TO
have issued about century before the
discovery of America by Columbus. 1t
has never been strictly enforced. Min
ing has always been prosecuted to
some extent in Shan 81 Yunnan and
Honan. On the Yang tse-Kiang and
its continents, in the streams of SEE
Chuen. and throughout Mantchoora
gravel mining has always been followed
as business by portion of the people.
Alluslons to the mineral output of the
empire are scattered through the works
of Pumpelly, Davis. DE Carne, and
others. More recent writers, such as
Williams and Won Richthofen, mention
the fact that the precious metals are
produced, without entering into details.
Still, the disappearance of gold and
the absence of gold currency show
that the edct though not strictly car
ried out, had the desired effect of put
ing a stop to mining rs regular in
dustry. 1t is only within few years
that the Chinese government resolved
to reverse its policy in this respect
The frightful straits in which the en-
pire found itself during the French war
satisfied its leading men that China
could not hold its own in the family of
nations unless it provided itself with a
gold currency. 1t was resolved to re-
open the mines.
Gold, like coal, is found in every one
of the eighteen provinces of China
But the largest and most accessible
source of supply is 10 be found in the
range of hills which devides the loess
prairie of north central China from